Ormond police lieutenant's wife under investigation by FBI

Wednesday

Nov 7, 2012 at 5:48 PM

Alana Hayes, a former officer and the wife of a police lieutenant in Ormond Beach has been the focus of an FBI investigation since early last year.

LYDA LONGASTAFF WRITER

ORMOND BEACH — The FBI is investigating the wife of the Ormond Beach Police Department's second in command after bank officials discovered irregularities in at least two accounts of clients who banked where she worked. Alana Hayes, the wife of Lt. Kenny Hayes — herself a former police officer for Ormond Beach — has been the focus of an FBI investigation since early last year. The probe has been confirmed by the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Ormond Beach Police Chief Andy Osterkamp, and centers around Alana Hayes' employment with RBC Bank and complaints by some of her clients there. On Wednesday, Osterkamp said he has "been assured by both the FDLE and the FBI that Kenny Hayes had no knowledge of this." Osterkamp said if it's proven otherwise during the course of the investigation that his colleague of two decades was aware of Alana Hayes' actions, he would have to deal with it then. Alana Hayes, 44, could not be reached Wednesday and it is unclear if she is employed. Kenny Hayes — who is also Ormond Beach police's public information officer, as well as the head of internal affairs — said via email on Wednesday that his wife's lawyer is criminal defense attorney Aaron Delgado. Kenny Hayes did not comment on his wife's investigation. Delgado said he could not discuss an ongoing investigation and referred questions to the FBI. One of Alana Hayes' banking clients included Howard Diamond, whose son Doug Diamond once worked with Kenny Hayes at the Ormond Beach Police Department. Doug Diamond was a detective with the agency and he headed the Criminal Investigations Division until he retired in 2008. Another client who filed a complaint against Alana Hayes — whose Facebook page shows her wearing sparkling dollar signs as earrings — was Sylvie Beaulieu, a neighbor of the Hayeses who lives on their street. According to Osterkamp, Beaulieu — who declined comment through her husband — went directly to the FDLE to complain about Alana Hayes last year. "The victim did not want to come to Ormond Beach police," Osterkamp said. "She went directly to the FDLE and that's how we found out about it." Osterkamp then said his agency asked the FDLE to handle the query. FDLE spokeswoman Susie Murphy said Wednesday the state agency's fraud division took the case in February 2011 after "a victim" came forward with a complaint about Alana Hayes. "We opened the case in February 2011 as a fraud case," Murphy said. "(But) the FBI was also looking at her and they (FDLE investigators) decided it was a federal case and we closed it in September 2011." The FBI agent handling the case is John Groeschner, who works in the federal agency's Daytona Beach office. "I'm the case agent on the case but I can't discuss it with you," Groeschner said. But Doug Diamond said he and his father met with Groeschner and RBC fraud investigator David Riser on Jan. 27, 2011, to discuss the irregularities that Riser had noticed on some of Howard Diamond's accounts. Riser declined comment on the case Wednesday, saying, "the investigation belongs to PNC now." He was referring to the purchase of RBC Bank by PNC Bank in March. Doug Diamond said his father was unaware that anything was askew with his finances until he got a call from Riser in January 2011. That's when the elder Diamond learned there were problems with his line of credit and that an ATM/check card had been opened in his name without his knowledge. In a claim he filed with RBC Bank, Howard Diamond said withdrawals were made from his line of credit without his permission. In addition, when the elder Diamond — then 85 years old — received credit reports from Experian and Equifax during that same month, the first address listed on the reports for Howard Diamond is Alana and Kenny Hayes' home address. Doug Diamond said he is both angry and disappointed about what happened to his father. He said Howard Diamond was heartbroken when he learned from Riser of RBC that there were problems with his bank accounts. "He (my dad) was a coal miner in West Virginia and Pennsylvania," Doug Diamond said. "All he ever wanted to do was have his own home and pay it off. "When this happened, he thought he had lost it all," Doug Diamond said. In mid-2011, Howard Diamond was able to pay off the modest house he and his first wife lived in on Golf Avenue near Ormond Beach, Doug Diamond said. The elder Diamond remarried in 2011— just before he and his second wife learned of the FBI investigation of Alana Hayes — and he died six months later, Doug Diamond said. "The same day he received a letter from the bank telling him that his house was finally paid off, he died a few hours later," Doug Diamond said.

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